Red Bull rivals, according to Max Verstappen, “will get closer,” while Christian Horner muses over his “unicorn year.”
Max Verstappen of Red Bull claims that opposing teams are “not stupid” and will put pressure on the resounding 2023 world winners the following campaign.
This season, Red Bull and 26-year-old Dutch driver Max Verstappen combined for the most dominant Formula 1 season in history.
Verstappen stated, “The others will get closer to us and improve their cars.”
“I don’t think regaining that win rate is all that feasible. However, that’s alright. It’s absurd because we’ve already experienced a season like this.”
Listen to the season review of 5 Lives including Max Verstappen’s incredible year.
In 2023, Verstappen won 19 of the 22 races; Sergio Perez, his teammate, won the other two. Carlos Sainz of Ferrari was the only driver to win a race outside of a Red Bull in Singapore.
The three-time world champion Verstappen led 1,003 laps during the season and won a record 85% of the races.
He expressed his belief that other teams would be able to overtake Red Bull if the regulations remained unchanged until 2024 in an interview for the 5 live F1 review show.
He asserted, “The others are not ignorant.” “Everyone is picking up new skills. Naturally, things will come closer the longer the restrictions remain the same, as people begin to realize which way they need to go with their development.
Fortunately, we got started with the regulations [in 2022] rather successfully, but I believe that things will move in the right direction next year.
“As for which specific team, well, the entire season has been a little up and down for everyone save us, so I’m not really sure which one is going to take the largest leap in the winter.
Can Perez continue to serve until 2025?
Perez’s contract with Red Bull expires in one year, whereas Verstappen’s is set to last until the end of 2028.
In order to keep his racing seat, Horner stated that the 33-year-old Mexican, who had a challenging season in 2023, needed to improve his qualifying times.
Despite driving what was statistically the finest F1 car ever built, Perez had a run of five races in six when he failed to qualify in the top 10. He finished outside the top four on the field for 16 of the 22 races. Only four times did Perez finish second in Verstappen’s 19 victories.
“It is obvious that you want your two automobiles to be as near to each other as possible when the field converges.
“Checo has demonstrated excellent race pace and racing on numerous occasions; he is well aware that he needs to concentrate during the winter on improving his qualifying performance. In order to avoid having to start from so far behind, he needs to raise his qualifying average.”
